Joining or affixing perforated or expanded sheet metal



July 16, 1929. F. Humm-mns 1,721,396

JOINING OR AFFIXING PERFORATED OR EXPANDED SHEET METALv Filed Aprilfzs. 1927 2 sheets-sheet 1 Figi.

A770' fr Patented July 16, 1929.

UNITED stares garant errrecup@-v FRANK HUMPHRIS, OF PARKS'I'ONE, DORSET, ENGLAND.

JOIN'ING- OR AFFIXING PERFORATED OR EXPANDED SHEET METAL.

Application led April 28, 1927, Serial No. 187,327, and in Great Britain August 24, 1926.

'This invention consists of improvements in joining or aftixing perforated or ,expanded sheet metal by providing means which are integral with such sheet metal whereby two or more sheets thereof can be oined to gether, or'whereby one or more sheetsl thereof can be aiiixed to either studs, joists, rafters, girders or any other suitablesupports without the use of nails, screws, staples, bolts, rivets or vthe like devices as ordinarily employed for such purposes.

Y To carry this invention into effect two or more so-called margins or seli'fedgesr of the said perforated or expanded sheet metal near the contour edges thereof are so slit or cut as to provide each marginor selvedge with one or more rows of either tongues or so-called spike-like projections integral therewith having either blunt or sharp extremities, which tongues or spike-like projections are sheared and so bent that they project at right angles to the plane of such sheet metal and leave as a result of their being formed in the said margins or selvedges apertures or openings through which the tongues or spike-like pro-` jections, produced in a like manner and` integral with any other like margin or selvedge of any other sheet or piece of perforated or expanded-metal, are passed, curled, folded or bent over in such manner as to form clinches which serve as securing means. l yFor aixing the margins or selvedges of the said perforated` or expanded ysheet-metal to studs, timber or other material, tongues or spike-like projections'having sharp extremities are advantageously employed, as these more easily enter the timber or. other material. j

. Each sheet or piece ofgperfoiated'or expanded metal joined to another according 'to this invention is made secure bv bending into a clinch each tongue orspike-like projection integral therewith after ithas been passed through one of the aperturesoropenings in the margin or selvedge ofanother piece or sheet of perforated or expanded metal-V The said apertures or openings are the ref sult of shearing the said margins or selvedges to form tongues or` spike-like projections therefrom.A I j All the ends of these tongues or spike-like .projections integral with one margin 1 or selvedge of one piece or sheet of :expanded or perforated metal which is joined to another clear understandingthe invention will now7 be described with'reference to the accompany` ing drawings. It is to be understood however that the illustrationsare given merely by way of example.

In these drawings Y Y i. Figure 1 is a view of a piece of a sheet of perforated metal having in the margin oI.

selvedge thereo'f'sliarp spike-like tonguesor projections which are formed by slitting the said sheet and bybending out the said tongues. Figure 2 .is va sectional view on Vthe line A-B of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view showing two piecesof perforated metal with one margin orselvedge of one pieceplaced over the margin, or selvedge ofthe other piece and with blunt tongue-like projections integral with one margin or selvedge passed through the apertures or openings resulting from the bending out of the tonguelikeprojections. vintegral with other marginfor selvedge. Some ofthe tonguesI are illustrated before they .are clinched by being bent ovverand some of the tongues are illustrated afterV they are bent over and clinchedaround the edgesiof the 'apertures or openings in each of the two mai'- gins or selvedges. v. y l

Figure 4 is a sectional view on the line C-y-D of Figure 3. v

Figure 5 is a view showingtwo pieces of expanded metal having margins or selvedges which are joined and secured in a manner like that shown in Figure 3 of the drawings. VFigure 6 E-F of Figure 5; and illustrates some of the tongues before and some after they have been bent over to form clinches.

Figure 7 is a view of a piece of a sheet of Figure 8 isa sectional view on the line isja sectional view on the -line y G1l ofFigure 7, showing how thetongues panded metal.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts throughout the drawings.

VIn joining or aiiixingr perforated or expanded metal having margins or selvedges a integralA therewith there isA provided ac#` cording to this invention, integral with each n margin or selvedge thereof, one or more rows of tongue-like projections b which are produced as the result of slitting the said margin or selvedge a; each of the tongue-like projections b integral with each piece of perforated or expanded metal are employed in the joining of two pieces of perforated or expanded metal together and to enable this to be accomplished each of the apertures or openings c in one margin or selvedge a accommodates one of the tongue-like projections' integral with the other margin or l selvedge a of two pieces of perforated or expanded metal which have been joined together.

Each tongue or spike-like projection b is bent over or around the parts 01 local to each aperture or opening c. j

Figures l, 2, 7 8, 9 and 10 of the drawings illustrate tongues or spike-like projections b having sharp extremities b1 which easily enter timber or other material and serve in substitution of nails, staples, screws or the like, or the said spike-like projections integral with any margin or selvedge a are folded over to form clinches after they have been passed through the apertures or openings c formed in any other margin or selvedge a as illustrated in Figures 3, t, 5 and 6 of ythe drawings which show blunt extremities b2 on the said tongues Z).

When joining two margins or selvedges a together one being integral with a piece of perforated metal and one being integral with a piece of expanded metal, or when joining two margins or selvedges ai ltogether of the same' kind, e. g. perforated or expanded metal, then the tongue-like projections integra] with each such margin or selvedge a being joined are so positioned that those integral with one margin or selvedge a projectvin a direction the reverse to that in which the tongues or spike-like projections b integral with the other margin or selvedge a being joined, project, as shown on the left-hand side of Figures '4; and 6 of the drawings, which also illustrate on the right-hand side thereof how, after the said tongues or spikelike projections Z2 have been passed through the apertures or openings@ they are each bent over or clinched around a part c1 of such margin or selvedge a with which they are not integral, as shown in Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the drawings.

Each said tongue ory spike-likeU projection is clinched over one said part c1 in any known manner and after this is done each tongue or spike-like projection b serves in substitution of a rivet, bolt or the like in the joining of pieces or sheets of perforated or expanded metal together.

It willV be obvious that any number Yof sheets or pieces of perforated or expanded metal each having integral with the margins or selvedges a thereof tongues or spike-like projections such as ?9,-and also apertures or openings such as c, provided 1n each selvedge a thereof, can be joined together by the means hereinbefore described, and such means and also the use of tongues or spike-like projections such as b which are turned over to form a clinch on a part such as c1 of another selvedge such asa as illustrated on the righthand side of Figures 4 and 6 of the drawings, or the use of tongues or spike-like projections as illustratedin Figures l, 2, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the drawings for afiixing perforated or expanded metal to timber or other materials is intended to be included in this invention. i

There are optionally provided according tothis invention two or more rows or sets of tongues or spike-like projections such as 'b integral with, and apertures or openings such as e in any one margin or selvedge a employed in joining together two pieces of perforated or expanded-metal or in aifixing perforated or expanded-metal to timber or other matei openings c is intended to be included in the Vscope of this invention.

Iclaim: j

1. A built up sheet metal structure comprising two overlapped metalcsheets, each of whichr has a row of equally spaced'tongues bent out of the sheet about lines at right angles to theedge of the sheet, the spacing of the tongues being alike forboth sheets, one of the sheets being reversed and having its tongues extended through the apertures left in the other sheet by the formation of the tongues in the latter the tongues of said sheets being bent over the opposite face ofthe latter sheet.

2. As an article of manufacture, asheet of metal having a plain border, and Atongues having their edges parallel to each other for a part of their length, said tongues being equally spaced 110 spike-like projections and apertures or der about lines at right angles to the edge of length, the tongues of one sheet extending the sheet. through apertures in the overlapped part of 10 3. Abuilt up sheet metal structure eompristhe other sheet and the tongues of one sheet ing two overlapped sheets of metal having being bent in the opposite direction to the 5 similar spaced apertures in alignment near tongues of the other sheet-to secure said sheets the edges thereof and tongues resulting from together. the formation of said apertures having their v edges parallel to one another for part of their FRANK HUMPHRIS. 

